hawk question..

[pat]

Raccoons here grab sleeping chickens and eat the heads, and then the intestines second. I know because when things get killed I set up trail cams. The raccoons will kill just for fun. meaning, they will kill all they can first, THEN eat. So, they will eat the parts they like the best first, head and guts.
I have had possums hunt my chickens as well, but the raccoons are the worst.
I wouldn't doubt a raccoon or a hawk. hawks do usually leave the feathers in a pile eating it on the spot, but Im not sure, if one with a nest would just bring the whole thing to the nest instead.

I so believe raccons will kill chickens. especially the wild raccoons. they do whatever it takes for food.

raccoons (at least mine) seem to like the the worse part of an animal. I got a deer last week. (hit by a car)
hubby gutted it, I started cuting it up, and gave larry some of the good meat of of it. he didn't want it,
but, went nuts over the worse scraps of it

gee, I never thought a possum would kill a chicken. they seem kind of dumb. but, again, whatever it takes for food.

I did find my peacock, and she is fine. I am so happy it was not my peacock's wing.

now, I am trying figure out who's wing I found. it looks like a hawk's wing to me. but, a young one
really weird, I hate not knowing what happend.

thank you for your info, very interesting.

[Nicophorus]

Sure does look like a hawk wing to me too. I thought it looked odd when you said it was a peacock's wing, but kind of skimmed over the picture and figured you knew it was your peacock.

Smaller then an adult hawks wing? Maybe great horned owl got a young fledgling after dark.

[Lasergrl]

Im so glad you found your peahen!

I just saw the wing pic.
Looks just like a juvenile red tail hawk.

When the hawks wean and fledge, they are not very good hunters yet. More then half starve in the first few weeks while they are on their own.
Im sure that's what the wing is from. Something made a snack of the rest of it.

[TamanduaGirl]

wow, never heard that. wonder why.

Survival of the fittest and sibling rivalry at it's worst. It's a fairly common raptor thing for siblings to kill each other usually by shoving the weaker one from the nest then if the fall didn't kill it a predator would or they just beat up the younger one and take all the food till it can't keep on any more. It usually happens fairly young though.

[pat]

my game officer stopped by today, and he wanted to see the wing. he also said, yep, for sure it is a hawk.

gee, now I feel bad, cause I was blaming the hawks on killing my peacock.

I read hawks will eat mice, rats which is helpful for me. as long as they don't eat my chickens.

ever since I put that fake alligator at the pond, I have not seen any so far. maybe it was just a coincidence

a big THANK YOU to every one that helped me solve this puzzle.

[Juska]

Really glad to hear your peacock was found safe and sound. The wing being from something else solves the mystery of why there was no blood/feathers at the scene, it wasn't a fresh "kill".

Guess we owe those hawks an apology ;)

[pat]

juska,

yep, now I feel bad for unjustly accusing the hawks.
it just seemed weird that so many hawks were hovering around, and a couple were sitting on my trees.

since I don't understand a hawks behavior, I blamed the hawks.

now that I am thinking about, a long time I remember seeing a dead young hawk on my back porch.
have no idea how it got there. as explained by lg, maybe it starved to death

[autumn blitz]

a wild hawk will take whatever is available to it - but a the hawk will eat the lot and the mess will all be confined to one very small area

the owl do you know which one it is ???? cos a barn owl wouldn't do that even for fun - barn owls and other small owls only take small prey, mouse, rats, squirrels etc......hawks take smallish prey items and always sit on and eat it on the floor where they kill it.

owls only take small food items too, even summat the size of a harris hawk would struggle with what you're suggesting, i think that you're in golden eagle territory with what you're suggesting :)

also the fact that you're saying that food items are being taken away that is not BoP stuff that's animal - 4 legs - stuff. would a BoP knock stuff out of tree yup but it'd take one heck of a lot to do it and the rewards just aren't there for the effort involved.

if you want to let your birds out into a wider area then you gotta build a double size enclosure with an inner enclosure to keep them in and make sure that you leave no gaps between the floor and walls or walls and ceiling for anything to get in. and even a small mammal is capable of killing a biggish bird.

every BoP is an opportunist feeder so don't give them the opportunity -- liking the croc idea thought that was brilliant :) thnking that everyone needs to think outside the box.

people forget when they move into open / wooded areas that there are predators already there !!!!! at the end of the day you and you're animals are the imposters in this matter so it's not their fault that they're taking advantage of the situation so scaring them etc.... it's gunna work long term - THEY WERE MEANT TO BE THERE - you chose to live in their territory not the other way round. so ti's upto you to make sure that your pens and things are preadtor proof.

sorry if this post cuts but that's my take on it. we have a similar situation between the reintroduced red kite and farmers livestock and cos they were reintroduced it's a hot topic as to whether or not they should've been.

donna